Buried in the Ashes
by Fyliwion
Summary: AU The Organization does not leave survivors behind, and the Kuroba family was no exception. One event can change everything.
1. Chapter 1

-1**Author's Note: **_Think of this as a teaser. Its big-- new epic story I've been working on for probably three or so years now. Maybe longer-- (Originally I was going to post it as one, but I figured it was silly since it the word count got to be ridiculous). And don't take the fic at face value… This is far more of a prologue than the actual story-- _

**Disclaimer: **I am not Gosho Aoyama. I'm far meaner to them

"Honey… Have you seen the news this morning?"

"Not yet…" The woman glanced up from where she was pouring a glass of juice. Catching site of his face she replied, "Is something wrong?"

Worry fell over the man's face as he glanced up at his wife over his coffee. He frowned as he said, "Your teacher's family… Apparently his wife and child were both caught in a house fire last night- according this article-" he handed her the newspaper, "Apparently it was burnt completely to the ground. They found a few remains among the ashes, but by the time they arrived it was too late to save anything…"

"God.. " The woman's eyes went wide as she looked over the paper. "After everything else-"

"Apparently it was the boy's birthday… You'd met him a few times hadn't you?" The woman gave a quick nod still reading the article carefully as she brushed at her eyes. "They said they found evidence that it started in the kitchen… they ruled out arson since there was quite a bit of evidence the blaze started from some sort of electrical malfunction…"

"Yusaku…." her eyes grew wider.

"Ironic isn't it? Wasn't it just two years ago or so that Toichi died in that accident on stage? Some sort of malfunction there too… I thought there was a fire involved in that case as well. Very little evidence left after a fire too" he watched his wife carefully as she crumpled the paper.

Her eyes flashed and she shook her head, "Yuusaku don't talk like that. You know as well as I do that it wasn't an accident. Toichi always was prepared for the worst, and there was no way that could have happened- Just like I know Shumi-chan and Jii-san were as careful as they could be in making sure there was no chance of an accidents as they call it here." She shoved the paper at him angrily.

The man shook his head ruefully, "That's the problem with arson. No proof in most cases, and by the time you might get a chance at the scene everything's been cleaned up. So unless you catch the person red handed- You know I tried to look over the Kuroba case, but there was nothing left by the time I got there-"

The woman was pale and her face was grim, "He never deserved that. Even you have to agree Yusaku, he was a good man. And his son? He reminded me of Shinichi in so many ways-" she sat down in the chair next to her husband. "Quite a little prodigy, and from what I understood always ahead in his class. I once thought maybe we should let the two play together, only I wasn't sure what would happen… something tells me it'd be a little too similar to what happens if you and Toichi were left alone too long in a room-" she let out a small smile and the man gave a wave of his hand.

"Quite a troublemaker then?"

"Mmm… but probably would have made just as good as a magician as his father- perhaps even better. You remember how I told you how he gave me that rose when he was what? Five?" she murmured softly.

Her husband gave her hand a delicate squeeze. "There's nothing you could have done-"

"I know… but It just seems so unfair…"

"I know Yuki-"

"Mom? Dad? Is something wrong?" A young boy walked in blue eyes with concern. It was easy to see something was up even for as young as he was.

Immediately Kudo Yukiko put on her best smile and shook her head ruffling her son's hair, "Mmm Shin-chan? Ah its nothing for you to worry about love-" She grinned, "And don't you have a date with Ran-chan?"

"Mom!! Its not a date-"

"Of course not darling! Now remember to be a nice young gentleman-"

"Mom!!"

"I'm sure you're father will give you the money to treat her-"

"Oiy oiy! Mom! Didn't you hear what I-"

"Ne Yusaku?" She said smiling happily…

Her husband shook his head ruefully and gave a nod, "Fine… Fine.. Have fun son-"

Sometimes Kudo Yusaku was truly amazed by his wife… But then she always had been a great actress, and she'd learned to wear her masks from the best he'd been told.

But something told him he'd be inquiring about the Kuroba files later- Even if it was far too late for any of those involved.


	2. Chapter 2

Happy Lurker Day!

Thus you get updates ^_^

Thank you all for your great reviews. I'll try to keep updates pretty consistent (Me? Consistent updates?) At least until I get to a point where the outline isn't laid out and partially written up (There is a ways to go before we have that however.)

Again with a shortish chapter. They'll be increasing exponentially at some point, but since we have a few people to cover and I didn't want to break the flow of things snippets for now.

Means your updates are more frequent though.

**Disclaimer:** I toy with them, I don't own them. I wouldn't be a starving artist and getting two hours of sleep a night if I did that's for sure.

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"WHY! I don't understand WHY he had to return after nine years!!" A newspaper flew across the room hitting the far wall with a 'smack'. "I thought he was dead! Dad SWORE he saw the body plummet into the ocean! I mean its not like I _wanted_ KID to die necessarily, but at least he was gone! So why does he have to return now!! Gah…"

Nakamori Aoko sunk into her chair and buried her head into her hands. She could've been shaking with either anger, tears or maybe both. Murder was written on her face regardless…

The other student's in the class had backed away feeling the storm cloud that was gathering over the girl's head. They knew the Nakamori temper far too well to dare approach her. Keiko frowned from her safe haven a few desks over, "Aoko?" She piped up warily.

"Dammit!! And on this day too-" she said. There was a sniff this time and she fought back what was definitely tears this time. She was obviously attempting to hide it from the class as she looked at her hands pointedly. She had told herself she was fine that morning. Aoko had woken up and swore she'd be alright… Even at the shrine when she'd stopped to say her prayers she'd managed to pull through, but after seeing _this_?

Well at least that explained why her father had already left for work by the time she woke up.

Why did the stupid KID have to choose this date to come back?

"Aoko are you sure you'll alright? Maybe we should go down to the nurse…" Keiko ventured a little closer worry overcoming her fear. Aoko was known for her ability to pull through anything. This was the girl who could stand beside a murder and not so much as give it a second look. She would face ghosts or criminals with that same hard look her father was known for and seeing the girl break down like that in class. Well that was new.

"I'll be fine Keiko-" she with a shake of her head. Rubbing her eyes one more time, she pulled out her notebook and tried to look productive.

Aoko didn't understand why it still bothered her so much. It'd been six years now, and they'd always argued and teased each other anyway. For all she knew maybe they wouldn't even be friends anymore. Maybe he would've been a jerk. Maybe he'd be off with some other girl who was prettier and friendlier and less… well violent for one.

Maybe he would just ignoring her completely, and she'd hate him with the same loathing she usually reserved for people like KID.

He might've even moved anyway and never talked to her again…

Or- whispered her treacherous mind- Or maybe they would have been best friends. Maybe they would have grown up together and been all but inseparable. Maybe they would have been planning where they would go to college together, getting a flat together… Maybe they would have been dating. Friendships like that rarely lasted forever, but in this case? Would he still have been the teasing idiot he was when he was five and pulling flowers out of thin air?

She really might as well be in love with a ghost.

No Kuroba Kaito was gone, and had been gone for years, too many years, and Aoko was the last person who really even cared, but then after so much time it was silly to dwell and she thought she'd gotten over it.

She was strong after all, she was Inspector Nakamori's daughter and had always pulled through no matter what the situation. She'd all but raised herself and him, and she'd done it alone-- it wasn't something most people could claim.

Except bloody Kaitou KID had decided to pick today to come back and steal her father again _just _when she thought she might finally have him back for good. _Just _as life was starting to look up for the first time in years. Bloody KID flying in with his heists on top of everything else going on in her life…

It just wasn't fair.

Just wasn't…

Of all days to start his heists again, he just had to choose the anniversary of her best friends death.

Six years to the day that Kuroba Kaito's house had burned down… with both he and his mother inside.

A bloody heist and now she wouldn't even have her father when she got home.

An empty house, and no one left at all.

No… it wasn't fair.

But then… hadn't life already proven that to her?

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**Author's Note: **_And so we meet Aoko. We'll meet her again, no worries and get far more insight into what she's done/changed because of the lack o' Kaito. And no… no peoples this is not a ghost story… not that any of you thought that but I thought I'd straighten that out incase you started getting the wrong impression XP_


	3. Chapter 3

_Thank all you lovely reviews!!! Honestly its all of you that are having me update this, and while I know they're not as fast as… er they should be. Your getting updates because you all are sending me aback with them._

_It's rush time, so that's why this updates so late. That and I have my challenge to finish up (the submission Is due end of this week and it would be terrible it I lost the challenge when I only had one left ^^;;;)_

_I'll try to make the next one more speedy, should help that my schedule loosens considerably in two weeks ^_^_

_Here's the next chapter! A bit longer and quite a bit more information too (they __should be getting increasingly longer from this point on… Maybe)_

**Disclaimer**: I'm not Gosho… if I was my schedule would be incredibly less hectic, I'd have assistants to do half my work, and I'd get sleep at night. Personally I'd just take the sleep at night.

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He was bored.

He was unbelievably, mind-blowingly, terrifically bored.

So bored that he thought at this rate he'd probably keel over from boredom.

'Course that raised the question when _wasn't _he bored? Every school he moved to he still found himself wondering why he even bothered staying in school. Half the time he considered just dropping out, the other time he was too exhausted to even consider it. Not to mention his mother would be disappointed if he just stopped going, and it wasn't like he had much else to do.

So today his eyelids drooped and he didn't even bother hiding his yawns as he stretched out and contemplating taking a nap.

Well he was running off a couple hours of sleep, what did a person expect?

He wondered what would happen if he got caught sleeping again? Probably try to get him to stay after- which he couldn't afford to do today. He had another heist, and if he got held after he'd never get ready in time.

Not that his teacher _could_ hold him after. He'd slip out before she even saw, and simply be able to pull the "Awww _Sensei_ I forgot!! So sorry!" Grovel a bit and give her his best smile and the whole incident would be forgotten. Not that it really mattered anyway--

Still should probably try harder to stay awake though, or maybe for that matter try at all. He'd stopped caring awhile ago, but now he was starting to think it might be worth it to at least attempt to get a little education, after all… choice profession was out of the question.

Of course that didn't stop him from trying to keep himself entertained by changing the boy's hair in front of him purple.

He didn't even really know the boy's name- on a whole he didn't try too hard to remember most of them. Nice boy though, probably didn't deserve purple hair, but well he was the easiest target-- and would give the least amount of notice as he did the trick.

Wasn't like he needed to know the boy anyway--- He'd likely just change schools relatively soon….

Maybe….

Probably…

He knew his mother wouldn't approve if she knew he was still prone to his tricks at school, but then he didn't go as far as he could've. Those he reserved solely for nighttime shows.

Naw, he just played the usual pranks at school, the most elaborate being the incident with the frogs, several tanuki, and the tennis club, while his usual tricks kept mostly to a few appearing flowers, disappearing ink, and once in awhile when he was bored-- having the class have new hairstyles.

The colors always faded before the students got out to the street though, except for a couple particularly annoying students-- but only on special occasions.

An occasional magic trick in his free time while making sure he kept his grades mediocre.

Not good. Never excellent. He couldn't afford to attract the attention of being top in class and what being a rising young magician might bring. So theoretically he was suppose to cut the magic stuff out completely from his repertoire, and just spend most of his time blending in.

Hah. Blending in.

He could_ blend in _alright. He was excellent at _blending in _if he needed to. Pick a face! Any face! Female or male, you name it and he could conjure it up with just a touch of make up, a specialized mask, or just a restyling of the hair.

He could put on any act. The geek. The prep. Sports star, writer, otaku, gamer, goth… you name it and he had it down pat. Dialects were a cinch… Once he spent an entire semester as an Osakan, and it wasn't until he ended up sleeping in one too many times, and his teacher called in to ask about him that his mother even found out.

He had fish for a week.

Last time he pulled _that_ stunt… although he thought it was pretty sly. No one was looking for two Osakans after all, or what if they'd decided to pick up one of those Northern dialects? He had done his research after all, and no one ever suspected that it was all an elaborate hoax.

Ah well… the best lies had a grain of truth-- and last time he checked they didn't even have a cousin floating in Osaka… so he supposed his mother had a point.

At least it would have made the whole thing more fun. He had something to keep him entertained for that stretch rather than focusing solely on "normal" and "_blending in." _

Because blending in the whole time just sucked… massively.

Probably why he was so terrible about keeping up the act the _whole _time.

But that's what he'd have to do, unless he could catch those bastards that had brought this on them.

He clenched his fists under his desk, but his face never skipped a beat. He was far too good for that. He had to be if he wanted to survive, and for that matter had survived that long.

No- he couldn't follow what he really wanted to pursue just yet. He couldn't stay in one school, couldn't go off and pursue a career as a magician, couldn't stop running even for a moment, but as soon as he managed to draw those bastards in black out-- he might just be able to finally get him and his mother out of their grasp for good.

All because they'd never "proven" that the Kurobas had died in that fire. After all the trouble, and the papers, and losing everything… their lives included in many ways… The case still hadn't been closed.

The investigations had stopped sure. A few people had shown interest and the question of "arson?" raised, but that part had mostly been ruled out.

No further inquiry needed in _that case._

Except the files still stated "no bodies found" and while the rest of the world just claimed the fire was too hot, and the damage too deep--

That group wouldn't stop looking until they had proof their victims were dead.

And while they hadn't found them yet, a young rising magician by the name of "Kaito" would arose far too many questions into a case better left buried.

Even if, as his mother had said so long ago, it was such a common name in the "normal" Kanji there was far less of a reason to change it.

But while "hiding in plain sight" worked well when you _blended in_, a young boy by the name of Kaito who loved magic would be the antithesis.

So he lived with a mundane daily life, and ignored the rest of his short-term classmates, with the only piece of his life a name that most people never even used.

He was far too solemn, far too often and was Takada-san or Takada-kun… never Kaito-kun….

Which was probably for the best.

But at least it meant he had one tie to his old life, and one tie to his father that wasn't marred by the organization.

Which he supposed was better than nothing at all.


	4. Chapter 4

_**Author's Note:** Life has been hectic and as such posts far more sporadic than I had previously hoped. On top of that both my computers have virus's, and one has completely crashed on me leaving it currently in safe mode and unable to do anything until I can get my data off with an external hard drive as even my CD writing device has been shut down. No April fools there. _

_Apparently the last chapter was depressing, something I didn't even realize until rereading…ooops? So here's a somewhat lighter chapter to lighten your mood ^^ _

_And more in the spirit of April Fools _

_**Disclaimer:** As usual.. I am not Gosho… I wish I had his following and money and characters, but I don't.. and in many ways glad I'm not-- because then there would be no element of surprise in the ending ^^;;_

_

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"I hate him," muttered the detective scowling across the class room. "Please Ran, can't you let me just…"

"Just what Shinichi? I really never saw you the type to get in a fight like that, and the new boy doesn't really seem the type to be impressed by your logic," the girls eyes were glittering and she had a look of amusement plastered to her face.

"You are not helping!! I bet you're smitten with him just like the rest of the girls in our class-" the boy scowled further causing Ran to break out in a bad case of giggles.

"Oh I see! That's it then! You're just upset about losing all your fan girls to the new boy hmm?" She rolled her eyes and flicked her hair back at the boy, "Honestly Shinichi, you should try to get to know Kaito-kun… he's not that bad. I'm sure between the two of you there's enough girls to go around…" she sniffed and pretended to ignore the arrogant detective who was still sulking in his corner.

"I DID!!" yelled the other boy. "He turned my hair PINK Ran. PINK!! And what's worse? I STILL can't figure out how he did it! That… that THING is worse then Kaitou KID!" She could've sworn that the detective was about to have an aneurysm the way his temper was flaring up.

The girl patted his shoulder gently, "Now Shinichi you don't really mean that. I know for a fact you don't think anyone could be more irritating then the Kaitou KID.

"He is…"

"Shinichiii-" her voice carried a hint of warning. "You're _never_ like this. What's gotten in to you? Alright so he played a prank on you, and maybe he's pretty good in class and all- but is that really any reason for you to hate him so much? Maybe it's good to have someone around to test your literal sense of the world. Personally I can't understand why the two of you don't get along…"

"Ran how can you say that? He nearly jumped you when he saw you! Remember? He started to call you some other girl's name before he stopped himself mid-sentence and then went off in that suspicious way he does. He's hiding something Ran! And he didn't have to go after you like once he figured it out…" Shinichi was all but growling at that point.

"It was an honest mistake Shinichi."

"He was FLIRTING with you the whole time after! He wouldn't leave you alone, and the way he drops flowers everywhere he goes? " He shuddered and Ran had to laugh again.

"Are we jealous oh Great Detective of the East?" her voice was teasing as she looked at her best friend happily.

"Ran!"

"And what if I do like him hmmm?" she gave Shinichi an evil look. It was fun watching him squirm as she glanced over the magician flirtatiously.

"Ran!!! How- How could you like him? The guys sickening! He's… He's like a male version of my mother or something!! Showing off constantly! Begging to be the center of attention, and acting like a completely idiot," Shinichi glowered over at the boy. "You can't-"

She rolled her eyes, "He isn't _that _bad, and I'm teasing Shinichi. Not to mention Sonoko's been mooning over him ever since he got here. I think she might be more in love with him than KID. You should give him some slack."

"He's a menace… and I still say it's odd. He and KID come in town around the same time. Similar build, similar looks, and if you ignore his age- which I also remind you KID hasn't been seen in over eight years, easily enough time to have an heir take over… Don't you find it odd? The boy's always busy days of heists, and for all he goes on about KID he's never at one of the heists. On top of that Ran he sleeps through class the day after any KID appearance, and it's said he moves around all the time just like-"

Ran cut him off shaking her head. "Your getting desperate again if you're going on about how Kaito-kun might be KID. It's the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard you deduct Shinichi. The boy just annoys you so your jumping to conclusions. Leave him alone…"

"But Takada-"

"Morning Shin-chan! Ran-chan!" said a sing-song voice.

"Speak of the devil-" said Shinichi under his breath as he twitched slightly.

"Shinichi-" hissed Ran as she grinned back at the boy. "Morning Kaito-kun!"

The other boy's eyes glittered wickedly as he looked at Shinichi, "And how's my favorite detective this morning ne? Looking as sulky as ever?"

"Takada…" said Shinichi warningly.

"Mmmm we could brighten your morning- Ran-chan how do you think he'd look as a blond?" He seemed to be trying to speculate over the picture, "Or maybe orange? That's been quite popular recently! We could try green to go with that sickly look of his- or I'd say blue but I think that would just help intensify that mood of his more-"

Ran tried to cover a laugh as the boy successfully changed Shinichi's hair with each new color he mentioned.

"I think I like best just how it was…" she said looking at Kaito pointedly.

The magician shrugged, "As the lady wishes…."

"Takada I'm warning you-" the detective growled.

"I'm sure you are Kudo… don't worry I'm not trying to steal your girlfriend… though she is quite pretty-" he winked at Ran who was trying to stammer out something between a denial and a thank you. "

Shinichi scowled, "She's not my girlfriend."

"And I'm KID-" said Kaito with a smirk. "Isn't that what you're always claiming?" He flashed Ran another grin, "Though personally I think I could match the magician any day ne Ran-chan?"

"Ah. Yes…" her cheeks were red and Shinichi rolled his eyes.

"Go back to your desk Takada… _Sensei _just walked through the door…"

Kaito smirked and turned back around with a wave of his hand, while Ran suddenly tried to stifle another laugh.

"Whatever you say… blondie."


End file.
